On Wed, 2008-03-12 at 14:59 -0500, Greg Donald wrote: > On 3/12/08, Robert Cummings <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > You make it sound like this stuff is new or something. > > Obviously to some it is. Just in this thread we had a person claim to > only know PHP, C, and Java, none of which have any functional language > capabilities built in. Yes, but some of your diatribe was originally directed my way. And this stuff certainly isn't new to me. > > Lisp and other > > functional languages have had it for decades. Even JavaScript has it. > > I'm sorry, I lost context, what missing PHP language feature are you > referring to as "it"? I'm sorry you lost context... try and stick with the program in the future. It's not terribly difficult to follow a thread. > > Your analogy is also way off... ask any person without legs if they > > think about walking. > > Here, let me dumb-it-down a bit: Awwww. you're so considerate... but really, there's no need, I'm sure I can understand things well beyond your own capabilities. > PHP doesn't have much in the way of meta-programming capabilities. > Therefore one would not find it a natural thought to do much > meta-programming in PHP, unless one already knew of a language where > such support exists. You're chasing your tail here. That would be true of any language. And since such "meta programming capabilities" exist in other languages, obviously they were thought up at some point when they didn't exist at all. One need not know of something to be able to invent it... see how that works. I could dumb it down for you if you want. > A different example using the same logic: My Mustang doesn't have > 4-wheel drive so I don't often think much about taking it through the > creeks and woods by my house like my old man and I do in his Bronco > that does have 4-wheel drive. A person who has never climbed a really > steep hill or ran through a waist-high creek in a 4-wheel drive auto > might think such a thing impossible if they were unaware of 4-wheel > drive. Or, and I would consider this the more likely response, they would dream up such a thing if it didn't already exist and was WANTED/NEEDED. Your chicken egg logic is completely invalid as illustrated by the current state of innovation versus what existed when life began. We innovate and create to fill the void. We don't use because the void was magically filled with solutions. The millions of PHP developers happily programming without Ruby or RoR obviously don't NEED all of these meta things of which you speak. Some may WANT, and maybe they will move to a language that supports them, but that's a preference, not a requirement. You do injustice to the many, many intelligent people out there that intentionally choose PHP over another language that has the features you of which you speak. You dismiss their experience, reasoning, and preference and presume yourself superior... get over yourself. Cheers, Rob. -- http://www.interjinn.com Application and Templating Framework for PHP -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
